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Add MS 10340
- Record Id:
- 032-002108138
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002108138
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000042.0x0002e7
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165140876.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 10340
- Title:
- Geoffrey Chaucer, Boece; Truth; 'General Prologue' of The Canterbury Tales
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains several works by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (b. 1340s, d. 1400), including his Middle English translation of Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae (On the Consolation of Philosophy), the poem Truth, and an excerpt from the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales.
For an edition based on the manuscript, see Chaucer's Translation of Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae, ed. by Richard Morris (London: Trubner for the Early English Text Society, 1868).
Contents:
ff. 1v-2v: Pen-trials and ownership inscriptions.
ff. 3r-40r: Geoffrey Chaucer, Boece, a Middle English translation of Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae (On the Consolation of Philosophy), with a table of contents (f. 3r); the text beginning, 'Allas I wepyng am constrained to bygynne vers of sorouful matere'.
f. 41r: Geoffrey Chaucer, Truth, written in Middle English and featuring a unique Envoy; the text beginning, 'ffle fro þe pres & dwelle wiþ soþefastnesse' (see Boffey and Edwards, A New Index (2005), no. 809).
f. 41r: An excerpt from the 'General Prologue' of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written in Middle English, comprising I, ll. 478-525, a description of the Parson; the text beginning, 'Þere was a pore person of a toune' (see Boffey and Edwards, A New Index (2005), no. 4019).
ff. 41v-43r: Pen-trials and ownership inscriptions.
f. 43v is blank.
Decoration:
Large and small initials in blue with red (foliate) pen-flourishing. Paraph marks in alternating red and blue. Running titles in red.
Added drawings of faces, a head-and-shoulder with a bird, and several shields, two with a rampant lion, one with three fleur-de-lis and a crown (f. 41v).
Decorated catchwords (ff. 10v, 18v, 25v, 33v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002108138", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 10340: Geoffrey Chaucer, Boece; Truth; 'General Prologue' of The Canterbury Tales" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002108138
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002108138
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100165140876.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English, Middle
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1400
- End Date:
- 1424
- Date Range:
- 1st quarter of the 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 315 x 200 mm (written space: 210 x 155 mm), in two columns.
Foliation: ff. 43 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment stub between ff. 22 and 23 and ff. 40 and 41 + 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the end); ff. 1 and 43 are parchment leaves affixed to paper flyleaves.
Collation: i-ii8 (ff. 3-18), iii8-1 (ff. 19-25, with one parchment stub between ff. 22 and 23), iv8 (ff. 25-33), v8-1 (ff. 34-40, with one cancelled leaf after f. 40).
Catchwords. Quire signatures.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: Pre-1600. 15th-century oak boards covered with brown calf-skin, over an older material (possibly buckskin); rebacked; on the lower cover, two diamond-shaped impressions with holes, possibly for bosses.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
Numerous inscriptions and names written throughout the volume, including, 'Henry Clyfton gentleman / s[er]uau[n]te unto my lady dansey' (f. 2v); 'Thomas wyllayam robaett Rychard' (f. 4r); 'Iohn de la moore[?]s' (f. 5r); 'de la Ihenkyn Le Scott' (f. 15v); 'yes indenture test[…] / quod ego Iohes / foxley' (f. 42r); 'be it knoyn to al men bi this p[re]sent byll that I Roger hill of Dodley has Reseyvid' (f. 42v), and 'Be yt knowen unto all men unto whome that / p[re]sentes writing shall come that I Lawrence / Nobye in the Countye Mydellsex [?Ienso] and Raffe Lyttelwor the yoman in the Countye of Essexe[?] have Bargayned and solde and by / thes p[re]sen[es] do Bargayne & sell to the / fore[?] named Lawrence NoBye the man[er] &' (f. 42v), and 'My verye lolovying loving / lovynge ffreynde Mr Mr / Nycolla nycollas' (f. 43r).
A number of merchants' marks added in drypoint, two in the shape of hearts, one having the element '4' incorporated in the ascendant structure (f. 33v).
Thomas Whilbre (fl 15th century): inscribed, 'Thomas whilbre / is my name by / Iesus Christe / or if it were / st thomyse […] glad to sent you' (f. 33v, effaced); 'Thomas whilbre [is my name] / Iudge well or Elles best (f. 40r); his name inscribed, 'Thomas whylbr' (f. 40v).
Randull Threbody (fl 15th century): inscribed, 'By me randull / Threbody amen' (f. 1v) and 'Randull threbody wryt this' (f. 42r); his name inscribed, 'Randull', or 'Randull threbody' (ff. 2r, 35v, 40v).
George Glover (fl . 16th century): inscribed, 'P[er] me George glouer dewyleng wt Mr nychelys / m[er]chand off the steepole / At Calys Thomas offley' (f. 2r).
Stephan Kirton (b. c. 1510, d. 1554) of Thorpe Mandeville: his name inscribed, 'Per me Stephann[us] Kyrton' (ff. 1v, 2r); inscribed, 'Stephanus Kyrton me possidet...' and 'Stephanus Kyrton / promised I be Thropalle / promise' (f. 41v).
The manuscript seems to have passed down in the Kyrton family, with the names of additional members also appearing throughout: 'To my verye loving good ffrinde / Mr John Kirtto Kirdtton m[er]chaunte' (f. 21v, upside down); 'quyndesym / amot mvlyerit / written at / London the 28 / ior Le decembar / p[er] me Iohn Bell / This bouke p[er]te / me to Mr Kyrton' (f. 25r); 'your Louinge / Louinge ffrynd to commaunce / Willyam Whethill servant / to the woashipffulll mrs / Kyrtton vidue of ouxfford' (f. 41v).
Richard Heber (b. 1733, d. 1833), book collector: his sale, February 1836, lot 440 (see note, f. 1r); purchased by the British Museum.
- Publications:
-
The British Museum Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, 1836-1840 (London: British Museum, 1843), 1836, p. 51.
Autotype Specimens of the Chief Chaucer MSS, Part I. ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall, Chaucer Society, Series 1, no. 48 (London: Trübner, 1876).
Sir William McCormick and Janet E. Heseltine, The Manuscripts of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: A Critical Description of Their Contents (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933), p. 535.
The Text of the Canterbury Tales: Studied on the Basis of All Known Manuscripts, ed. by John M. Manly and Edith Rickert, 8 vols (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1940), I, pp. 48-51.
Lloyd F. Klinedinst, Jr.. 'The Scribal Art of Textual Transmission: A Study of Fifteenth-Century Manuscript Tradition in Nineteen Manuscripts Containing Selected Canterbury Tales', PhD dissertation (University of Florida, 1971), pp. 12-19.
Charles A. Owen Jr., The Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1991), p. 104.
Michael C. Seymour, A Catalogue of Chaucer Manuscripts. Volume I, Works before The Canterbury Tales (Aldershot and Brookfield: Scolar Press, 1995), pp. 46-47.
Ian Cornelius, 'Boethius' De Consolation philosophiae', in The Oxford History of Classical Reception in English literature, ed. by Rita Copeland, 5 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012- ), I: 800-1558 (2016), pp. 269-98 (p. 297, n. 70).
'London, British Library Addit. 10340', in The Digital Index of Middle English Verse: https://www.dimev.net/Records.php?MSS=BLAdd10340 [accessed 22 June 2022].
'London, British Library MS Additional 10340', in Late Medieval English Scribes: https://www.medievalscribes.com [accessed 22 June 2022].
'Manuscript: Ad4', in A Digital Catalogue of the Pre-1500 Manuscripts and Incunables of the Canterbury Tales: https://www.mossercatalogue.net/record.php?recID=Ad4 [accessed 22 June 2022]
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)